.

PKti1 tit OKAM

tons BtKH, C.W., sun., Jim . i;s

Secret Witness helps win crime war

Early in 1972, a publicservice program dedicated to active participation in the war on crime was taken under study by the Independent, Press-Telegram. TV program would be based on channeling information from anonymous tipsters to the proper police agencies and the payment of s u b s t a n t i a l rew a r d s f o r information Ipading to the arrest and conviction of criminals. This could be an effect i v e a p p r o a c h , it was reasoned, because many citizens know about criminal activities but hesitate to go to the police out of fear for their own safety or because of reluctance at b e i n g l a b e l e d a "snitch." AT T H A T time, t h i s type of program was being offered, under a variety of flames, by several newspapers and radio and TV stations throughout, the country. In some cities, it had been a noteworthy success. In o t h e r s , p u b lishers frankly admitted the idea was a flop. The I.P-T committee weighing the project made an exhaustive s t u d y of these programs, trying to find out why they succeeded when they did succeed and why they failed when they failed. Three key factors in the successes emerged: The absolute, ironclad guarantee of anonymity for informants; the whole-hearted cooperation of police agencies with the program and the prompt payment of rewards in amounts impressive enough to ensure interest among potential informants. The idea was discussed with officials of various law-enforcement agencies throughout the Southland in a series of meetings, a r o u s i n g a widespread interest. All o f t h e o f f i c e r s h e a r t i l y endorsed the theory of such a program, but a few privately expressed skepticism as to its effectiveness. They pointed out t h a t anonymous information was the hardest to check and feared the majority of tips would be of malicious or of crackpot origin, wasting valuable investigative man hours. IN THE end, however, the dubious minority figured "it might help and it can't hurt" and pledged cooperation with the program, agreeing along with t h e i r more enthusiastic colleagues to respect and h e l p the newspaper preserve informant anonymity. S e v e r a l q u e s t i o n s rem a i n e d to be resolved, including those of how to guarantee anonymity of tipsters and how the program should be funded. It was decided that inf o r m a n t s w o u l d be requested to use a code name and code number when calling on a special telephone set up in the I. P-T newsroom or writing to a special post office box to be r e n t e d for the project. In this manner, even the editors handling the project w o u l d no know the identity of in formants. As for funding, it wa noted that many of the tip ster projects offered b other newspapers estab lished a fund in coopera lion with contributions b civic groups, other organ i z a t i o n s and interestet individuals. IT ALSO was noted tha the instances in which tht most people were involvet in the funoUng were the instances with the pooresi record of success. This resulted in the determination that the I, P-T would establish its own reward fund and s o l i c i t no contributions from outside sources. In the event that some organization would want to participate and offer its own reward in conjunction with t h a t of the newspaper, such an offer would be publicized but the newspaper would not handle the money. The organization would have to place its reward in a trust fund and handle payment separately. On' June 10, 1972, the ,P-T announced inauguraion of the Secret Witness irogram. with a fund of $100.000 established by the mblisher for payment of e w a r d s to informants. The amount of individual ewards would range from '500 for information leadng to the arrest and conviction of r o b b e r y and i t h e r major non-capital rime suspects and fugiives f r o m j u s t i c e , to ^2,000 for information cading to the arrest and onviction of suspects in nurder cases. ANY misgivings accompanying the institution of Secret Witness were shortlived. The results have exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Today, two days before the third anniversary dale of the inauguration of Secret Witness, the program has resulted in the conviction of 52 -criminal suspects. These include 10 suspects in murder cases, 22 suspects in robbery and other major non-capital crimes and 20 fugitives from justice. Aside from approximately half a dozen still waiting trial, e v e r y suspect arrested through the Secret Witness program has been convicted in subsequent court action. Rewards paid or committed on conviction of defendants now total $33,500. The t i m e element between the commission of the crime, the Secret Witness tip and the arrest has varied from a few hours to almost four years. DOZENS of cases have been solved on tips received before the crime itself could be publicized. On the other h a n d , a murder committed on July 16, 1971 the gunshot slaying of 38-year-old Elliot Lawson during a holdup at the Atlantic Inn. 1854 Atlantic Ave. finally was broken two months ago on a Secret Witness tip resulting in the arrest of Terry Eugene Corde, 24, in Walla Walla, Wash. Many of the cases solved by the Secret Witness tips would have stood no chance of solution through regular investigative channels, officers involved have declared. One of the most celeb r a t e d Secret Witness cases, the Dec. 26, 1970. double murder of C y r i l Ball and his son James during a robbery at the Ball and Frank sporting goods store on Long Beach Boulevard, f i n a l l y was broken on Nov. 18,1972. One of the biggest r o u n d u p s of suspects accomplished through Secret Witness, n e t t i n g several individuals in one case, could not be publicized by the newspaper. A force of detectives assigned to the investigation and the newspaper agreed that, due to circumstances peculiar to the case, if the identity of the arrested suspects and the details of the case received such publicity the identity of the informant would be obvious to other criminals possibly involved and still at large. This would put the informant's life in danger. Any fears that interest in the program would taper off after the first year or two have been dispelled. Last month was one of the most active

months since the program three bank robbers. Even the most was established, producing the arrest of 10 crimi- among the original doubtnal suspects, including ers have been convinced.
FULLY GUARANTEED

RETREADS
Is Foros. Ln**'s. riy s. ono alt American and Import cars. oven on me HI way (or your safety! ee Moumir.9 ft Free ~il necessary. ackwall-Plus tax and eichanw

VALUABLE COUPON
SUPER VALUE....

GROUND

BEEF
OMNGt "*,LL

from lOOVo Pure Beef ...the Meat that i Made us Famous "Limit 9 Ibs. per customs?

Qive the Graduation gift that's worth remembering. Bulova Accutron

CENTER MEAT CO J thru11.

JUNE
SNM ! 5576U7 WESTMINSTER TW38527 UKEWOOD ME 3-6820 GARDEN ,?",?!'*

WITH THIS COUPON

JCPenney
-..&;

Si.

What a wonderful contemporary gift to give. Every one of our Accutron styles is accurate lo within a minute a month. Guaranteed.' And they never need winding. Choose from our fine collection. From $95
Wo wl!l adjust to this loler.ince, i! necessjry. Guarantee is lor one year.

Long Beach's Oldest jewelers

Hours: l h;<0 to 5:30 Mon. thru Sat.
Free Parking in Any Lot Convenient Budget Terms Master Char^o, B.inkAmericarri

Downtown :O3 Pine Ave.

4:?.",-(,

HEAT WAIV BELMONT CLUB

by

-Arrow
You can waive heat discomfort and be Mr. SuperCool wherever you are in the superbly styled Belmont Club Bard. Yes, comfort is a state of shirt when it's the lightweight, open-weave, easy-care Decton PermaIron by Arrow. And style is a state of collar when it's the medium length, medium spread Bard, the classic collar that's always right. In whites and lights. Short sleeves. 8.00
and 8. 50

Save 20% on fabric and labor on your custom draperies. This week only!
Save 20o on this select group of exciting drapery fabrics! There are antique satins, sheers, open weaves, jacquards, textures, cotton punts and solids. JCPenney custom decorators can show you all these fabrics in your own home and can help you to design window treatments that complement your furnishings. The savings do include both custom fabric and labor! So call to arrange for a showing. Sale prices effective through Saturday. Come In or call JCPenney's Custom Decorating Department for draperies, slipcover*, re-upholstering, furniture, carpeting, accessories.

Wallcers
the f r i t n d l y itor* of Loftq

Pine At 4th, Long Beach Men's WearStreet Floor

CANOGA PARK (213) 883-3660 CARSON (213) 538-2900 DOWNEY (213) 869-4541 FULLERTON (714) 871-4343 HUNTWGTON BEACH (714) 892-7771

LAKEWOOD (213) 634-7000 MONTCUW (714) 621-3811 NEWPORT BEACH (714) 644-2313 NORTHRIDGE (213) 885-1464 ORANGE 'THE CITY' (714) 634-1600 PUENTE HILLS (213) 965-8341

RIVERSIDE (714) 687-3060 SAN BERNARDINO (714) 884-5163 TORRANCE (213) 371-6577 VENTURA (805) 642-7592 WHinWOOD (213) 947-2511 '.!